May 27, 2012 -- Green Left Weekly -- Red carpet and champagne marked the start of the first Red-Green
Alliance (RGA) congress since the party tripled its mandate at a poll in
September last year.

The 385 delegates representing the 8000 members packed a basketball
stadium in the migrant and working-class Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro
to grapple with the party's new increased influence on Danish politics.

Party membership has more than doubled in the past two years, with
the party welcoming into its ranks many ex-members of the Social
Democratic and Socialist People's parties.

Danes voted in droves in last year's elections to punish the
right-wing parties. The poll resulted in the Social Democrats heading a
coalition government — and Denmark's first woman prime minister. But
this took place on the back of the lowest vote for the Social Democrats
since 1906.

There was also a collapse in support for the country's most
right-wing parties, including the overtly racist Danish People's Party
(DPP). The vote for left parties rose.

The Social Liberals are the most conservative of the four
left-of-centre parties supporting the government and the RGA the most
radical.

The RGA jumped from four to 12 seats in parliament, winning 6.7% of
the vote. All RGA MPs get only a skilled worker's wage, donating the
rest to the party.

The new government follows 10 years of conservatives in office. Among
trade unionists and working-class communities that organised to oust the
conservatives in a similar style to the Australian “Your Rights at Work”
campaign, there are huge expectations.

With the Social Democrats and their partners in the government
rapidly reneging on election promises and tracking to the right, the RGA
has unique opportunities and challenges ahead.

The minority Social Democrat government led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt
relies on a coalition of left and centre parties to govern.

The RGA supports the government against motions of “no confidence”,
but the party is not formally part of government and votes for
legislation case by case.

The votes of RGA MPs are crucial, however, to enable the government to pass key laws, including the budget.

The congress delegates reflected in some detail on the difficult
experience of negotiating with the government over this year's budget.

Party spokesperson Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen said: “No one should doubt
that if the government chooses the compassionate way, then we stand
ready. We are ready to negotiate, and we are not afraid of compromise. In return, I want to say one thing very clear to the government:
You'll never be able to threaten the Alliance to vote for cuts in
welfare.

“Never! Even if the threat is that you'll call an election. This kind of bullying does not work on us."

To try to bring community pressure on the negotiations, the RGA
conducted a series of consultations with students, unions and community
groups to gather proposals. The party prioritised these proposals and made it clear to the government that the votes of the RGA depended on these measures.

Negotiations with the government were conducted by a team nominated
by the 25 elected members of the RGA's National Board. The authority to
authorise MPs to vote in favour of the budget is held by the board.

The RGA's ultimate support for the budget hinged on the inclusion of
five weeks' holiday for recipients of social assistance, as well as
giving the unemployed more opportunities for retraining and education
rather than being forced back into the labour market. The budget also included some progressive taxation reforms, including a
higher tax on large companies and a tax on printed advertising
materials.

The congress revisited a big debate from last year. This came after a
majority of the National Board endorsed the vote of the party's MPs in
favour of Danish support for the UN-NATO intervention in Libya.

This support was later retracted by the board and MPs as the
intervention in Libya unfolded. At last year's congress, a vote to
endorse the actions of the board's majority was carried by a margin of
just 13 votes.

In the lead up to the congress, the party conducted seminars
throughout the country to debate in what circumstances the party would
support military action. The result of these seminars was a resolution
put to the congress designed guide the party.

Delegates adopted the resolution, which provides very limited
circumstances in which, for humanitarian reasons and having all other
options exhausted, the party would support UN-led military
interventions.

Some delegates expressed concern about the practicality of the
resolution in the context of further military interventions. Others
regarded it as an important framework to guide the party.

Big challenges lie ahead, as the government is moving to cut
unemployment benefits from four to two years, and raise working hours
and the retirement age. The congress launched a campaign to “Fight
unemployment, not the unemployed” this year.

A decision was also made to run a campaign to force the government to
hold a referendum on Danish support for the European Union Fiscal Pact.
This pact will bind the EU countries to implement cuts to public
spending and debt.

Also high on the campaign agenda is scrapping the discriminatory
immigration rules that prevent Danish citizens with less than 28 years
of residency from bringing their wife or husband to Denmark. These laws
were passed by the previous government at the initiative of the
far-right Danish People's Party.

With the RGA enjoying a growing and enthusiastic membership and a
huge mainstream national profile, its future looks bright. It already
has strong representation in local councils and looks set to extend
that base in next year's elections.

Despite its bright electoral prospects, delegates and MPs alike were
at pains throughout the conference to point to the limits of negotiating
change in parliament. Much discussion focused on building campaigns
outside parliament.

National Board member Per Clausen said: “The main challenge for us
is to bring optimism and the belief that political activity is useful.
And when we go from here we spread that belief into the workplace, in
homes and taverns.”